FORMER UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin alleged that “imported” delegates were permitted to snoop about the party’s annual general meeting at the Dewan Merdeka to ensure that Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi would not be challenged.
He made the claims before the party voted on the motion, which was passed today at the party’s general assembly.
The motion was proposed yesterday (Jan 13) to ensure the two incumbents will not be challenged at the upcoming UMNO elections, which must be held by May 19.
According to a report in The Star today, Khairy made the accusations following a plea he made to Umno general assembly delegates not to permit a “Dewan Merdeka Move” intended to promote a no-contest motion for the two top positions in the next party elections.
The claim that some chair tags at the Dewan Merdeka were removed to allow the “imported” delegates to enter the dewan was made by Khairy in a video clip from Malaysia Gazette that was included in the paper’s report on the no-contest motion.
The portal said Khairy alleged that there is a conspiracy by some delegates to “bulldoze” the motion in order for it to be approved at the AGM today.
This is when he claimed that some of the tags of delegates at the Dewan Merdeka had been removed to replace them with “imported” delegates to ensure the motion would be approved.
“So it is important for the delegates not to carry out the ‘Dewan Merdeka Move’ to kill democracy (within UMNO) and deny the voices of the grassroots to determine the future of the party and to pick who is qualified to lead,” he said in a video posted on TikTok on today.
At the conclusion of the general assembly on Saturday, UMNO is anticipated to decide whether there will be a battle for the top two positions. According to sources, delegates from Johor and the Federal Territories had already rejected the motion of no-contest for the top two positions in the party.
However, in an apparent retort to Khairy, UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Dr Puad Zarkashi claims that only a small number of Umno delegates heckled the resolution to declare the top two positions vacant during the Umno general assembly.
Puad claimed that a tiny group of party division heads, who were responsible for the statutory declaration supporting Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Prime Minister, were behind the action.
“In reality, the ‘boos’ came from a few division heads who had supported (the earlier) statutory declarations for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
“While nearly two-thirds of the delegates had actually supported the motion,” penned Puad in his Facebook page. — Jan 14, 2023
Main photo credit: The Star
